DRINKING WATER

testing-for-yesterday's-water Testing For Yesterday's Water In A PFAS World

Relying on assumptions when designing water treatment systems creates unnecessary financial and operational risks. Adopting predictive modeling and data-driven testing provides the precise, actionable insights required to optimize performance, manage costs, and ensure compliance.

DRINKING WATER CASE STUDIES AND WHITE PAPERS

  • AMERICAN SpiralWeld Pipe Delivers For City Of Phoenix Drought Pipeline Project

    Phoenix’s Drought Pipeline Project, supported by AMERICAN SpiralWeld Pipe, secures clean water for North Phoenix, delivering up to 75 million gallons daily and earning top industry awards.

  • Custom Water Panel Answers Multiple Water Questions

    A mid-size water system in the southeast was looking to pull together multiple measurements in a single panel. After reviewing off-the-shelf solutions, they realized there was nothing that met their requirements.

  • What Is A Purple Pipe?

    For the city of Beaverton, Oregon, the “Beaverton Purple Pipe” is a new water system that routes treated stormwater to irrigate green spaces like parks, school grounds and residential yards.

  • 5 Misconceptions About PFAS Removal Technologies

    This article will explore five common misconceptions about GAC and IX technologies for PFAS removal, helping utilities choose effective, site-specific treatment strategies for contaminated drinking water.

  • AqueoUS Vets Named A Manufacturing Partner For A Southern CA Water Treatment Facility

    In August 2018, Aqueous Vets was selected over existing industry incumbents to supply the Granular Activated Carbon Systems (GACS) for a Southern California Water Treatment Plant.

  • AFC SEMPER RPM Offers Water Hammer Insight For Monroe, North Carolina

    Discover how the implementation of pressure sensing technology has allowed the city of Monroe, North Carolina to gain greater insight into its distribution system and why main breaks were occurring.

  • Xylem Factory Recycles 100% Of Its Process Water

    By leveraging natural surroundings, Xylem’s manufacturing facility in Emmaboda, Sweden, can recycle 100% of the plant’s process wastewater with its new water treatment. The plant helps ensure a continuous supply of safe water, even in times of water scarcity, using Xylem’s water reuse technologies.

  • The Importance Of pH Measurement During Industrial Treatment

    Nearly every industry requires water and wastewater treatment to some degree. From food and beverage to pulp and paper operations, influent and effluent must meet certain conditions to adhere to regulatory and/or performance requirements, and water used during the process must conform as well.

  • Filter Membrane Predictive Maintenance

    At manufacturing operations using ultrafiltration systems, the ultrafiltration membranes are used for numerous batches without replacement, using Clean-In-Place (CIP) operations in between batches to maintain filter performance. However, ineffective CIP cycles or long-term fouling or degradation of the filter membrane can result in increased cycle times to move the desired amount of product through the filter, lost yield as the product is unable to permeate the filter, or poor product quality as membrane failure may occur.

  • Smart Antenna Technology For AMI

    When several years of drought subsided and water restrictions were lifted this spring for the city of Round Rock, Texas, residents quickly returned to their pre-drought usage patterns—and as they watered their lawns, filled their pools and used water the way they had before the drought, their monthly bills began to rise. The utility billing office started getting calls from a number of the 33,000 homes and businesses throughout Round Rock.

DRINKING WATER APPLICATION NOTES

DRINKING WATER PRODUCTS

Get benchtop lab accuracy in an easy-to-use, easy-to-maintain, wireless, handheld instrument designed for diverse, demanding, water quality testing applications. Select from a variety of pocket testers, each featuring simultaneous measurement of Temperature and one critical parameter:

The AquaDiamond® filter, a new horizontal configuration for the Cloth Media Filter, has been produced. It utilizes PA-13 pile cloth as its filter media.

The Series 3800 MEGA-COUPLING is a restrained coupling for similar and dissimilar pipe materials.

The OPTIFLUX 2050 is an electromagnetic flowmeter (EMF) for basic water and wastewater applications. It is suitable for all cost-effective measurements where extremely high accuracy, extensive diagnostics or a wide range of communication options are not a priority. The EMF has a wide diameter range (DN25…1200 / 1…48") and all drinking water approvals. The extra isolation of the electronic device and housing makes this EMF particularly suitable for use in areas with extreme humidity.

Restrained joint systems play a critical role in maintaining the integrity of pressurized ductile iron pipelines, particularly where thrust forces occur due to changes in direction, elevation, or flow conditions.

The EX-TEND® 200 joint is designed for pipelines that are subjected to expansion and contraction forces and is self restrained at full expansion.

LATEST INSIGHTS ON DRINKING WATER

DRINKING WATER VIDEOS

The YSI Pro2030 DO/conductivity water quality meter is ideal for any field application. The instrument is rugged and extremely simple to use.

In 2007 he was named People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive, but these days, Matt Damon is getting noticed for something far less sexy. During a trip to Africa in 2006, Damon made it his mission to help people in developing countries have access to safe water and sanitation. He talks to Katie Couric in "World 3.0".

Water infrastructure projects often face extreme installation conditions, from deep-trench burials to exposed bridge crossings. Ensuring long-term reliability requires a material capable of withstanding environmental stressors that can compromise other piping options. Ductile iron pipe offers superior durability, maintaining its structural integrity regardless of temperature fluctuations or UV exposure. Watch the full video to explore these benefits in action.

Aqua wants you to know the 411 on lead exposure

IPR'S CIPP liner system for gravity-flow sewers and culverts is the most proven, cost-effective trenchless pipeline rehabilitation system in the industry. It is also the most widely specified form of trenchless pipeline rehabilitation.

ABOUT DRINKING WATER

In most developed countries, drinking water is regulated to ensure that it meets drinking water quality standards. In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administers these standards under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)

Drinking water considerations can be divided into three core areas of concern:

  1. Source water for a community’s drinking water supply
  2. Drinking water treatment of source water
  3. Distribution of treated drinking water to consumers

Drinking Water Sources

Source water access is imperative to human survival. Sources may include groundwater from aquifers, surface water from rivers and streams and seawater through a desalination process. Direct or indirect water reuse is also growing in popularity in communities with limited access to sources of traditional surface or groundwater. 

Source water scarcity is a growing concern as populations grow and move to warmer, less aqueous climates; climatic changes take place and industrial and agricultural processes compete with the public’s need for water. The scarcity of water supply and water conservation are major focuses of the American Water Works Association.

Drinking Water Treatment

Drinking Water Treatment involves the removal of pathogens and other contaminants from source water in order to make it safe for humans to consume. Treatment of public drinking water is mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. Common examples of contaminants that need to be treated and removed from water before it is considered potable are microorganisms, disinfectants, disinfection byproducts, inorganic chemicals, organic chemicals and radionuclides.

There are a variety of technologies and processes that can be used for contaminant removal and the removal of pathogens to decontaminate or treat water in a drinking water treatment plant before the clean water is pumped into the water distribution system for consumption.

The first stage in treating drinking water is often called pretreatment and involves screens to remove large debris and objects from the water supply. Aeration can also be used in the pretreatment phase. By mixing air and water, unwanted gases and minerals are removed and the water improves in color, taste and odor.

The second stage in the drinking water treatment process involves coagulation and flocculation. A coagulating agent is added to the water which causes suspended particles to stick together into clumps of material called floc. In sedimentation basins, the heavier floc separates from the water supply and sinks to form sludge, allowing the less turbid water to continue through the process.

During the filtration stage, smaller particles not removed by flocculation are removed from the treated water by running the water through a series of filters. Filter media can include sand, granulated carbon or manufactured membranes. Filtration using reverse osmosis membranes is a critical component of removing salt particles where desalination is being used to treat brackish water or seawater into drinking water.

Following filtration, the water is disinfected to kill or disable any microbes or viruses that could make the consumer sick. The most traditional disinfection method for treating drinking water uses chlorine or chloramines. However, new drinking water disinfection methods are constantly coming to market. Two disinfection methods that have been gaining traction use ozone and ultra-violet (UV) light to disinfect the water supply.

Drinking Water Distribution

Drinking water distribution involves the management of flow of the treated water to the consumer. By some estimates, up to 30% of treated water fails to reach the consumer. This water, often called non-revenue water, escapes from the distribution system through leaks in pipelines and joints, and in extreme cases through water main breaks.

A public water authority manages drinking water distribution through a network of pipes, pumps and valves and monitors that flow using flow, level and pressure measurement sensors and equipment.

Water meters and metering systems such as automatic meter reading (AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) allows a water utility to assess a consumer’s water use and charge them for the correct amount of water they have consumed.